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 All news should be considered an unconfirmed report unless verified, and all information published at KISS Asylum is attributed to the source from which it was received so that readers may judge the validity of the statements for themselves. All information is confirmed where possible, and all publication is governed by common sense.
From: KISSAsylum.com This is the story of one mask, two bands and a loft in New York City's Chinatown circa 1976. Everyone knows about the Starz/Kiss Aucoin connection and a persistent rumor that Starz was really KISS - unmasked. What you may not know is that a couple members of Starz, entered the 'big time' as Looking Glass, with a little ditty called "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)". The band dissolved, morphed and evolved, and still the song survived. "Brandy" had a life of her own and after singing it about a million times up and down the Eastern Seaboard, we needed some comic relief or we knew we'd go nuts. Michael and I were cruising around downtown in whatever city we were in at the time and we stumbled upon a novelty/Halloween/joke store that had masks in the window. After trying on a few particularly hideous models, Michael spied one that was based on the Planet Of The Apes movie. He donned it and it was instant love. The Brandy Mask was born and every time we sang that song from that day forward, Michael wore the mask. By the end of the tour, we'd had it. There was no amount of money on Earth that you could have paid us to play Brandy even one more time. Eventually Starz was born (Richie Ranno joined Brendan Harkin, Michael Lee Smith, Pieter Sweval and I) and the mask retired to Pieter's loft. That's where all the band stuff happened & Pieter would, on occasion, throw some pretty wild parties. Besides the band, he would invite some of his more colorful friends: Cannoli Ear, the Purple People, Norma Desmond and the lovely and mysterious Miss Thing. During one of these Chinatown blasts, Alan Miller, Bill Aucoin and Sean Delaney brought along GENE and PAUL. Now, one has to remember that in 1976, KISS was about the biggest band in the country but no one, and I mean no one, had ever seen their faces. It was a huge deal that they kept their identities secret. Well, the party's rolling along pretty good and after a while, guess who shows up? The Brandy Mask! Everybody wanted to try it on. It was the hit of the party. Since it was just us kids, there were certainly no photographers around and therefore GENE and PAUL were a bit more at ease than when they were typically out other places. They were finally able to let their guard down and just have a little fun.
Starz returns to the stage at STARZFEST, November 5th and 6th in Teaneck, NJ - singing LIVE, every song from their four studio albums. Details at www.starzcentral.com. |
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